Winter's Kin
by Miki Fubuki
Summary: Jack is a Guardian now but he always had wondered how he is the only spirit in the past 300 yrs that has the power over a season. Until he meets Eve, who controls Autumn and quickly bonded with her. But the more they do, he slowly comes to realize that despite their similarities, their differences has made him question everything he has become and everything he has come to know.


_**new story YAY! Miki again and I know some people are waiting for my other story but so far I just can't get this bunny out of head and had to write it down. So here is an ROTG centered story, no crossovers and stuff like that. The talented Arialene was my beta again (bless her heart) and made sure to iron out the creases. So hope you enjoy this new story of mine. :)**_

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><p>It was a good time in the Warren that day. It was nearing the beginning of September and the Warren usually looked even better during the start of summer's end. Mainly because of the fact that after the cool months, it will be alive again in the next spring.<p>

E. Aster Bunnymund or commonly known amongst the other spirits as The Easter Bunny or just plain 'Bunny' was preparing his usual routine before the months of Easter preparation were coming. He would take out his sketchbook to draw some new designs for his egglets, mix new paint (all natural of course), or try to scrub down some of the moss from his Sentinel eggs before it gets too thick.

But for now, he was busy tending to his small patch of land where he planted some new flowers last Easter. The flower patch was something he'd added by the side of the river of dye. The flowers were like reminders for him, like a picture in a scrapbook of memories. It had also gave him a bit of comfort and hope when he needed it.

Like the time he had a taste of the feeling of being passed through by a child. He felt a chill down his spine. It never failed to give him that frightened feeling during the nights that followed. He had to try and forget, being the Guardian of Hope and have faith that everything will begin anew.

So he did the only way he knew how; Plant flowers.

Just taking care of the seedlings gave him a sense of protectiveness, imagining them as the real things he protected as well. And now they blossomed and seeing the blanket of pastel colors took the bunny's breath away.

Tulips with their cups that seem to remind him of the plastic eggs that he sometimes hide his candies in. There were golden marigolds, and daffodils with their wafer thin petals clumped up in small streaks, reminding him of Sandy's dream sand. Flutters of sweet peas and irises were in the fray, like the purple fluttering of wings Toothiana and her fairies as they soared through the night to collect the little white pearly treasures tucked underneath the pillows. Azaleas boomed as well around the garden like the ever loud Nicholas St. North, or commonly known as Santa Claus. As much as Bunny disliked red, it gave the bed a touch that he couldn't seem to explain.

Then, he noticed something at the corner of his eye.

Turning his head, a bead of white was near the back, a bit off to the side so that it was not all that prominently displayed against the beauty of the other flowers. He knelt down beside them, a paw reaching out to gently lift the tiny bowing white heads into the light.

Snow drops. Little white snow drops.

They were so small and shy, drooping down to the ground the more they grew along with time. Unlike the other flowers smashing at you with their bold and vibrant color just waiting to be shone, the snow drops were quietly growing in the back being outshone by the others.

Bunny remembered with a smile why he chose this flower to join his little garden.

They reminded him of the one other spirit who knew what it was like to quietly grow, hidden away from the world. The spirit who quietly wished over the years that he would be seen by someone, even just anyone would do, and the other spirits had ignored him. Because he was small and he was young thus labelled as something people do not have time to care for.

Something not worth while. Something insignificant. Something bothersome.

Bunny just sighed to himself and hopped to the little spring near the flower bed, having been careful to pick that location so he did not have to go to the other side of the warren to get water. He was fast enough sure but he rather not exert that much effort.

Taking a nearby bucket he tucked in as well for convenience, he bent over to scoop some of the water and paused. The water was glistening solid, having been frozen. A trail of frost was already starting to form on the solid surface, a little trail going up the moss-covered rock walls. The source of the frost lingered up to the rock which his eyes followed.

He looked up to see where the frost ended, green eyes glared up to see a pair of mischievous blue eyes floating and that ever present child-like grin.

"Jack! What are you doing here?!"

Jack grinned, floating down to his level so he can look at him directly in the eyes.

"Hey Cottontail, mind I hang around for a few hours here? I can't really freeze something upstairs without somebody getting suspicious."

Before Bunny could even mutter a single decibel from his lips, Jack already shot up the air with a quick "thanks you're the best." Green eyes watched in disbelief as they trailed the frosty spirit freezing a few sentinel eggs and forming slipper patches of ice to let a few egglets slip and slide along the grassy fields.

Bunny could only sigh in frustration as his paw slide down his face, distorting a bit of his features as the paw dragged down.

Yup. Bunny was right.

He may be like the new child that he felt like he needed to protect at times. But he knew one thing that never changed.

Jack was 'definitely' still bothersome when he is bored enough.

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><p>Summer is near it's end in some parts of the world.<p>

As summer soon drew to a close, cool winds of autumn making their way around the world, hinting at the nice, crisp morning of autumn that lay in wait. People were preparing their thick, padded clothes out to shield themselves from the coming cold. Farmers were checking their crops as the harvest season drew near, bringing an abundance of pumpkins and corn this time of the year.

The four months of humid heat was still lingering in some parts in Kyoto, Japan. But a rain storm some time in July made it all bearable for the people; A few patterns of rain were fine compared to having to sweat while you work.

But summer festivals were abundant and that made the local tourism boom in numbers so who was to complain?

In the forest surrounding the Kodai-ji Temple in the Higashiyama district, green still dominated the foliage. However the caretakers, who were doing their daily morning sweeping, eagerly waited for the arrival of the warm palette their trees were famous for. One such caretaker, Hideo, came out of the little house at the side near the temple; yawning and blinking away the last of his sleep.

He stretched his arms to the sky, his loose bones straightening as he seemed to have felt something snap in place inside. Hideo scratched an itch at his side before breathing in the crisp air. It was a beautiful day again in the temple.

The young caretaker walked on to take a bag of what looked to be little white flakes from the mini shed that was placed near his home making his way to the little expanse of water near the small man-made hills of the temple.

It was time to feed the koi.

He looked at the little pond near the temple, maneuvering carefully and balancing on his feet as he stepped on the stone paths leading to the small shrine in the middle of the water. Squatting down, he gently laid the food on the water's surface, watching in silent amusement as the brightly colored fish swam up to fight for the floating bits before disappearing once again down into the murky depths.

As Hideo continued his feeding, he glanced at the giant maple tree near the side of the Kaizando memorial hall. A bit of the leaves were falling but it all seemed to fall on one specific place, near the right side of the tree. Even the trees from the farthest branch kept being blown to that spot.

He couldn't help but feel like something was there, something that was making the leaves go to that area.

It was very...peculiar.

Unbeknownst to him, a young woman had been sleeping soundly underneath that particular Momiji tree. She had hair like fire, crimson and orange blending together the more the wind blew the strands. A dark violet sweater that faded to black, pants of muted grey and dark blue boots completed her attire.

Large headphones covered her ears, making her look like she just listening to music, instead of sleeping. It didn't take a second more before her eyes opened, revealing a peculiar mix of colors in her irises.

Magical shades of blues, greens, and yellows mixed together in that one rounded space, like the calm waves of the sea crashing on golden sand. She turned to the side to examine her surroundings again. As her mind processed where she was, her eye color seem to change at every moment. With every movement of her head, the colors looked like they slowly merged together with the yellows turning from green from the green to blue and the blue to a murky grey.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, a hand coming up to cup a yawn that escaped her lips as she stood up to stretch her limbs. Dusting her bottom for any dirt, she rolled her shoulders to loosen the joints before stretching again, this time using her entire body. A gust of wind circled her, as if bidding her a good day. She smiled and breathed in deeply, exhaling slowly to savor the morning air.

As her fiery mane whipped through the wind, the glasz-eyed female fumbled in her back pocket to take out a wooden paintbrush. The paintbrush was simple, made of wood and white horse hair, a chinese-styled it between her slender fingers, she whipped it up in the air and, just as her hand reached the air, she soared, leaving behind a trail of leaves fluttering to the ground.

Look out world; Autumn was coming.

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><p>"Come on Bunny, is there anything you do that is actually fun?"<p>

"I 'am' having fun. Before you came along, ya bloody annoying show pony." Bunny snapped, trying to concentrate on the egg he was painting.

"Painting Hardboiled eggs that won't stop squirming is not my idea of fun."

"Rack off!"

Jack just laughed, hovering higher in the air as he watched an angry six foot one tall, grey furred rabbit jumping up and down trying to reach him to no avail. He continued his joyous laughter, almost dropping his staff as he shook in glee which only infuriated the bunny.

Bunnymund was in no mood for his games so he had to swallow his pride and just go pick up the egg he dropped earlier. He looked back at the boy still laughing and floating in the air, dusting away some grass that now ruined the slightly wet paint.

"Don't you have anything better to do than bother me?" Bunnymund gave a sigh of frustration as he peeled off a blade of a now grass-covered egg. "And during my trial painting day too."

"Rule number one when dealing with Jack Frost, Cottontail. Never make Jack Frost bored especially when he is given the title 'Guardian of Fun?'" Jack sighed, lying on his back with his hands behind his head in the air.

Bunny just groaned. Jack being winter had 3 seasons vacation as he can't really give snow days out in the summer or humans will start questioning That always spelled trouble for the other spirits who were still doing their jobs. Jack tried to play with a few toys that North created but an accident with a "My First Chemistry Set" has set a few elves sick, and discolored some Yetis and he was kicked out for a few days. Collecting teeth was hard to do when every single tooth fairy you meet likes to rub their faces on your cheek than tell you where to go next. Don't get him started on dream sand. It was like watching paint dry; No wonder Sandy liked to sleep on the job.

"Jamie and the others are still in school. So for a few hours, I need to kill some time. You're the only one available for the pleasure of my company."

Bunnymund shot him a look.

"Your job may be to spread fun, but my job right now is to figure out new designs for next Easter! I need to not make a single mistake when I am painting for real. I deal with perishables here!"

Jack just grumbled in reply, only frustrating Bunny further. In sheer frustration, he threw his hands up in defeat.

"I give up. You just don't care what other people do, don'tcha mate? It always is about your own personal amusement."

Jack turned his head to give him a pointed look on his face. "Hey, my idea of giving joy to kids is just cooler than most of what you guys do okay?" Jack said. "Don't take it out on me when you didn't even know the first thing most kids like these days."

"Sorry if the idea of getting hypothermia is not sitting too well with me," Bunny sneered at the younger Guardian.

Jack halted, grimacing.

That did it.

Bunny soon realized what just came out of his mouth and quickly turned his head to look at the young man who was now just standing there.

Jack could only bit his bottom lip; trying to hold back that stabbing pain in his chest that also threatened to come out of his eyes. As fun as the snow he brings, no one can deny that the cold can kill and that is something Jack has noticed over the centuries he brought winter to.

Remorse quickly settled in the rabbit, feeling like he stuffed both his huge feet in his mouth.

"L-Look Mate, I didn't mean it that way. I just-"

"No...it's fine. I...know you didn't mean it…"

Silence soon came, surrounding the pair who both couldn't look at each other in the eye. It was unsettling and awkward, something the Bunny never liked especially when the other half of the conversation was Jack Frost. They took quite a long while to properly reconcile, not just after the whole battle with Pitch but the years of him treating him like a nuisance. He was afterall the most verbal about his disapproval of the Winter Spirit being entitled the honour of being a Guardian but his actions in getting at least one child to believe in him before he was lost forever made him rethink about everything he had thought of the boy.

Jack soon broke the silence with a sigh, shifting his staff to rest on his other shoulder. Reminding him of what his season could also bring could not have hurt him even more than reminding him of how alone he had felt through those three hundred years.

"I'm just gonna go. I need a bit of air" He said, his hand moving up to lift his hood up to cover his head. Bunny cringed in seeing that hand move. It was not a good sign through the 3 years Bunny has known him.

It only meant one thing - Jack Frost felt hurt.

Bunny wanted to protest, wanting to cheer him up and apologize properly but he was powerless at this moment to try and stop him when he is feeling low. Looking away with his fist clenching in silent regret, Bunny raised his head "Mate look, I'm-"

Before Bunny knew it, all his ears heard from the frost spirit was the split second flutter of leaves followed by a wave of silence.

Jack was gone.

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><p>The winter spirit was trying his hardest to not unleash a blizzard in Burgess right now but the emotions building up inside him was making it more and more irresistible. He and Bunny were always at odds with each other but they had both come to a truce of sorts, promising to not try anything that could have went too far.<p>

Unfortunately, Bunny seemed to have found it hard to keep beyond said line.

Jack kicked a pile of leaves that had already turned into different shades of reds and oranges, watching as they flew with the light autumn breeze from the bank of his favorite pond that he was currently standing in. A single red leaf fluttered down onto the still water, lightly floating on the surface and sending a single ripple.

Jack watched the ripple distort his image for a brief second, he sighed and just turned on his heel to walk towards the forest.

"Who does Bunny think he is anyway?" Jack muttered, his hand inside his shirt pocket as he walked aimlessly deeper into the forest with his other hand still holding his staff tight.

"Just hides a few hard boiled eggs that rots after a day or two underneath some bushes and then he thinks he knows everything about making kids happy, about being a Guardian."

But then the ache in his heart still wasn't going away. And he hated it.

Jack hated the idea of only being loved a quarter of the year. He hated how despite all the good things he tries to give during his season, no matter how much fun he showed winter could be that still someone will tell him that winter is a cold, harsh season.

That winter is cruel.

Clenching his fist inside his pocket, he couldn't hold the frustrations back anymore and just spun, his free hand clutching his staff shot out an blast of ice to a nearby tree stump, instantly freezing it into a block of ice. He caught his breath a bit, staring at the frozen stump in shock and alarm; his arm falling to his side in frustration with the exertion of the blast he'd dealt.

He must have been angrier than he thought he was. Jack clenched his staff again in frustration.

Why can't people try to understand sometimes? Sure people will see the beauty of nature once in a while but when winter comes, they put on their snow boots and coats saying how cold they feel rather than saying how fun making a snow angel and pelting their buddies with snowballs were.

People just see the negative side most of the time. Getting snowblind, shoveling snow off your driveway, cars getting stuck, getting sick easily, slipping and falling on the icy streets.

Why can't people see the good sides more often?

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><p>While Jack was still on the other side of the forest near his pond, still brooding over what had just happened back in the warren, he hasn't noticed yet the activity going on at the center.<p>

In the heart of the Burgess woods, a young woman was busy checking her surroundings. She was examining each leaf, looking at the still lush green color they wore. She shook her head and lets go of the wafer-thin foliage.

"This needs to be changed," she muttered, her hand spinning the paint brush skillfully around her fingers.

Turning her head, she moves to find a place to start her work. She finally settles underneath a huge oak tree where she gently lays her palm on the thick trunk and closes her eyes.

The wind was blowing another breeze it seemed, blowing her red hair through the air. She opened her eyelids to reveal golden sand covering her calm ocean. and her other hand still holding her paint brush; she let the horse hair tip glide up along the trunk.

A streak of magic flew up, gradient colors of red, orange, yellow and purple shooting along the indents of the bark. A stream of leaves twirling with the wind followed the direction of her brush stroke, going upward along the tree. Once the wind touched the tree, every leaf of the tree turned to a bright shade of orange and red.

She turned to unleash the same magical stroke of her brush throughout the surrounding flora, watching in wondrous delight as the trees and shrubs all got turned to the rustic shades of her palette.

Her feet spun her in a dance, her hands twirling with her brush sending ribbon-like streams of colors through the air; colorizing everything near her perimeter to welcome the Autumn season. Some trees were stripped bare, others were wet with dew, their fallen leaves almost instantly turning to the warm colors.

With one final twirl, she stopped and paused her magic to take in her work. The brightly warm colored leaves, the ones that were still attached, were gently swaying with the cool autumn breeze; ripples of sunlight glistening as they waved. Piles of mixed colored leaves were scattered on random areas, some were picked up by the wind and made to dance a few twirls before falling to the ground again.

She gave a smile, letting her hand drape to the side for a brief moment. Her job was looking pretty amazing at the moment.

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><p>Jack sighed, moving to thaw the tree stump not wanting someone to see it. when he noticed something changing in the wind. This wind was different, something he'd never felt before. It wasn't the wind he was accustomed to asking for rides. He glanced at the icy stump before he decided to leave it be to investigate the peculiar wind. He was curious, wanting to find out more about this strange wind.<p>

He ran; deeper and deeper into the woods, he ran. He wasn't used to running but then something in his mind urged him to run and not use the wind; This particular breeze he was following hung low and gentle, as if it was dancing through the trunks of trees as it gliding down further and further through the wood.

Jack continued on, navigating through bark and branch as he followed the breeze until he saw something he never thought he would find.

At the heart of the forest, a young woman danced. The breeze was dancing along with her as she twirled along the ribbons of light that looked to be coming out of her hand and her brush. With each spin she made, the nearby plant life also responded to her. The greenery changed to embrace the autumn weather, blasts of red, sunny yellows and bright oranges filled the scenery.

Blue eyes widened at the spectacle, his mind quickly processing what was happening.

He was unable speak for a while, out of sheer surprise or happiness he was not sure as he watched her dance before him. His mind whirled, quickly deducing all possible logical explanations as to who this new spirit was.

"Autumn….?" he whispered, watching as she danced with a wondrous grace, each step and stroke ushering in the soft caress of autumn and chasing away the harsh glare of summer.

But that whisper was loud enough to be heard by the female spirit, who immediately stopped her dance at the sound of his voice; leaves falling down immediately with their colors only midway into turning a full red or orange.

Before Jack knew it, he was face to face with a pair of the most interesting shade of eyes he had seen. They both just stared at each other, unnerving and unmoving. Jack studied her features, noticing her long crimson hair that looked like fire under the sunlight, her fair skin but most especially her eyes that quickly changed from it's bluish green color to a golden hue with tints of color of the sea.

Blue eyes still held both astonishment and happiness, happiness for finding a new spirit - a seasonal at that and astonishment at how she looked to be a few inches taller than him. He couldn't help but grimace at the idea of a girl being taller than him though.

The astonishment faded when he noted that the young woman was wearing boots with heels so the height problem was no longer a concern. She held in her hand a wooden brush that looked to be old, her fingers slightly shaking as she held onto her brush tightly. Her eyes only held a look of anxiety that only grew the longer they stared at each other.

Jack slightly raised a brow.

"Why does she look anxious? I've never seen her before."

His hand reached for her but she took a cautionary step back, avoiding him.

This did not bode well.

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><p><strong>What do you guys think? :) Leave reviews please~ No flames. PEACE OUT~<strong>


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